Below are the names of writers who are currently active. For others, living and deceased, please type their name into the search box above the masthead on our home page, www.sdjewishworld.com
By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−Donald Trump: “The [energy efficient] bulbs that we’re being forced to use – number one, to me, most importantly, the light is no good. I always look orange.” No, the lights in your tanning booth make you look orange, President Raccoon Eyes!” * Donald Trump: “Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. […]
Humoring the headlines: September 18, 2019 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire
Items in this column include:
*Sarah Davis is a candidate in 78th Assembly District, not to be confused with others
*Motions heard in Superior Court in Poway of Chabad shooting case
*The Jewish ‘Tam’ of Shari Belafonte
Our Shtetl San Diego County: September 17, 2018 Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
I once had a rabbi who inveighed against religious hypocrisy with this saying: “Big beard, small Jew.”
What Rabbi Aaron Gold, z’l, meant was that some people are tempted to display how scrupulously they stick to ritual, but are unbending and uncaring when it comes to the more important rules of Judaism, as found in the Ten Commandments, such as not to murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, nor to covet your neighbor’s possessions.
Another important rule is to welcome the stranger, and therein lies the essence of the conflict that powers Naomi Ragen’s latest novel, An Unorthodox Match, is which a formerly secular Jew, who is trying to follow an observant life style, is rejected by the very same people who purportedly want her to follow their ways.
Book Review: ‘An Unorthodox Match’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison
I had to smile on Saturday night at the Sephardic Festival held at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center [JCC] this past weekend. There was a short film, Our San Diego Sephardic Voices, about the Sephardim in San Diego. One of the women interviewed said she was in a “mixed marriage” as her husband was Ashkenazi. Another woman spoke about the differences in food as the Sephardic eat much more rice than their eastern European counterparts.
San Diego holds its first Sephardic Festival Read More »
International, Lifestyles, Mimi Pollack, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food
Items in today’s column:
*San Diego County teens, successful in past, may apply for Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards
*Bible, Holocaust, and Israel subjects of new books by local authors
*Barbara Bry gets backing of neighborhoods group in mayoral race
*Sukkot activity planning well underway in the county
Our Shtetl San Diego County: September 16, 2019 Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA
San Diego History Center in Balboa Park and author of The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle, told Rowe that instances of men playing females have long been considered family entertainment. Furthermore, she said, “Some of the highest paid drag queens in the past have identified as heterosexual. It has nothing to do with sexual behavior. It has everything to do with entertainment.”
All of which brings to memory that the 1959 Billy Wilder film, Some Like It Hot, one of the most celebrated movies ever to be filmed at the Hotel del Coronado, starred Marilyn Monroe as a member of an all-girl band that Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon joined, in drag, in an effort to escape from some gangsters.
Our Shtetl San Diego County, September 15, 2019 Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
God commanded the Israelites through Moses to completely blot out the memory of the nation of Amalek. The command is repeated by the prophet Samuel in I Samuel 15. The only voice speaking against this apparent genocide is that of the first Jewish king Saul, who was strongly criticized by Samuel for not killing all of the Amalekite people and who lost his monarchy because of his apparently reasonable behavior.
Philo sidesteps the difficulty of the slaughter of an entire people by interpreting the entire report allegorically. Amalek is not a nation, but a symbol of the impassioned coward who strikes anyone he sees standing in his way. He hides until his enemy has passed him by, no longer looking at him. Then he rises and assaults what he perceives is his opponent’s weakest point. Philo was thus the first to introduce the idea that it is not the people that should be eradicated, but the nefarious self-destructive quality of Amalek that an individual must obliterate from his personality.
Was the biblical command to destroy nations cruel? Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion
In the view of the Gestapo stationed in Paris, Joseph Joanovici was a “useful Jew,” because as a scrap metal dealer he could obtain and sell to the Nazis materials needed for the war effort. At the same time, the French Resistance also thought he was useful because with the money he made as a Nazi collaborator, he was able to help the Resistance obtain weapons. Additionally, he was able to use his contacts within the Nazi hierarchy to free from prison his employees and his Resistance associates.
Playing both sides, Joanovici had friends among the Nazis and friends among the Resistance. He also had more than his share of enemies, who would be happy to kill him once he stopped being “useful.”
Graphic novel profiles World War II profiteer Joanovici Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History
Items in this column include:
* Attorney Joe Leventhal becomes a candidate in 5th City Council District
* Georgette Gomez jumps into race to succeed Congresswoman Susan Davis
* Brushing up on your Jewish knowledge with a game of ‘Jew-perdy’
*A Backyard Challah Bake
* Camp Mountain Chai increases summer sessions from three to four
* Three ‘self-compassionate resolutions’ for the New Year
* And Finally, Some Fun With Numbers
Our Shtetl San Diego County: September 14, 2019 Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, Travel and Food, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA
I heard this week that the Golden Deceiver fired John Bolton. What did he expect when he appointed Bolton? From my own experience, I don’t want to be near two alpha dogs when they are in the same room. The biting, the growling, and the marking of territory guarantee that eventually one of them is going to send his rival packing with his legs between his tail or, in Bolton’s case, under his moustache.
Hounding the Headlines: September 13, 2019 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire
By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — We will learn eventually if New York’s $1.7 million investment to contend with bias-related incidents will work, but the outbreak in attacks against Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn exposes ongoing drawbacks in the system. Deborah Lauter, who heads the newly created Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, hopes
New York City adds an office to fight bias crimes Read More »
Bruce Ticker, USASubjects in this Column
* Ray Lutz takes an unnecessary poke at Rep. Susan Davis
* Volunteers sought to interview Holocaust Survivors
* Poverty Simulation Nov. 13 to Learn How Others Live
* The Hive seeks donations of digital photos of San Diego Jewish life
Our Shtetl San Diego: September 13, 2019 Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Lifestyles, San Diego CountyI learned how Israeli forces slaughtered over 30 children in a protest for Palestinian rights. I read about the closure of the Gaza Strip, and how Palestinians have to apply to work or seek specialty medical care in Israel, and oftentimes have their application denied. And in one night of reeducating myself, I became a pro-Palestinian Jew.
S: Congratulations, another self-hating Jew – and in only one night, without ever visiting the area. Israel hasn’t slaughtered over 30 children. The IDF is second to none in restricting its soldiers’ behavior towards non-combatants. It’s the Palestinian Arabs who don’t hesitate to push their children in front of them, instead of putting themselves in front of the kids for their protection. The parents also allow, even encourage, their teenagers to participate in dangerous riots at the border. This is totally immoral.
Victoria, what you’ve ‘learned’ in college about Israel is not true Read More »
International, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, Steve Kramer, USA
(I)t is with great surprise—as we recall the attacks upon our nation on September 11, 2001— that The New York Times wrote:
18 Years have passed since airplanes took aim and brought down the World Trade Center. Today, families will once again gather and grieve at the site where more than 2000 people died.
Notice the politically correct nomenclature the writer chose, “airplanes took aim,” and not Jihadi terrorists.
Did New York Times intentionally whitewash 9-11? Read More »
International, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Middle East, USA